Coatesville saves funding for train station renovations

COATESVILLE – The long planned renovations of the city’s train station, in jeopardy after the federal government pulled funds for the project, is back on track.

City Manager Kirby Hudson said Monday the renovations will go forward thanks to some last-minute maneuvering to save funding for the renovations.

Hudson said he received a letter on March 26 from the Federal Transit Administration that said the agency was cutting $1 million in funding for the project. Hudson said the administration felt the city didn’t need the money, Hudson told council and public at Monday’s council meeting.

Hudson said he avoided a “nasty tragedy” of potentially losing the funding by making phone calls that resulted in the funds being diverted to PennDot, which will funnel them to the city, according to the city manager.

The Coatesville Station is on North Third Avenue between Coates and Fleetwood streets. This station is a stop on Amtrak’s Keystone Corridor Service route.

Hudson said he had more good news to share: He is in the process of finding an organization to help with feral cat control in the city.

He said No Nonsense Neutering of Allentown and Reading is willing to open its fourth clinic in the city, and said the organization will pick up the traps set out. No Nonsense will charge $15 per cat captured, which is the best offer Hudson said he received. Kittens will be entered into an adoption program.

Hudson also announced to the public Monday that Lincoln University is opening a campus in Coatesville to offer business classes for the fall 2013 semester. The university received the approval from The Middle States Commission on Higher Education to open the new campus.

The university’s new location, 351 Kersey Street, is originally the Gordon Education Center. By the following year, the university hopes to operate seven days a week, Hudson said.

“We’re very excited about this,” Hudson said about finding what he called a milestone to fill in the downtown area.

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